Teenager invents low-frequency radio for underground communications
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 1st 2010 6:11AM
posted February 1st 2010 6:11AM
posted February 1st 2010 6:11AM
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@cherryboom
you mean China. Japan doesn't copy anyone. Everyone copies them (no exception) like it or not.
Some how, some way, porn was a motivator for this invention.
Some how, some way, porn was a motivator for this invention.
Garden hose and pipe cleaners wrapped around a ball made of pvc pipe? And it works?
Wow they were right - nobody does understand them after all..
@Karate Tortoise
+1 for Michelangelo
@Karate Tortoise
I don't see any duct tape, so I have my doubts. An invention like this should incorporate more duct tape...
Does this mean texting while on the subway?!
Way to go kid! Make sure thy don't steal your patent or give you a raw deal. Get yourself a patent lawyer and be smart (althought you probably figured this by yourself:). Again, if you're reading this, GREAT JOB & CONGRATULATIONS!
First txting, next the rise of the Molemen!
Man that's impressive. Congrats to this young man. I'm 21 and haven't invented anything, so I tip my hat to you sir.
Very impressive! Nice job!
Nice project, but this technology has been available for many years. hams have been using these low frequencies to talk across the atlantic using digital communications. You could take the current designs and use them for cave communications directly. It is nice to see young people doing these experiments.
Incredible. LOW frequency radio. What an idea. And to think, nobody ever thought of it before!
@BuzzMega
Yep...that's right 'buzz'! No one thought of retasking the concept to use underground, no one 'cept young Alexander.
One could make the same judgment about your 'discovery' of sarcasm, 'buzz'.
His 'invention' will save lives, 'yours' will just make people like me hold you in low regard. yes, even lower than 946'.
Congratulations, that is a very impressive accomplishment.
Now, would you like me to describe to you what a real boob feels like?
The navy has been using long waves to communicate with submerged submarines for many decades, it's the way to send them messages to nuclear submarines when they are deep underwater hiding from detection.
So no this kid didn't invent anything, he just uses what he read somewhere, I just hope he doesn't accidentally sends the launch orders.
@Wwhat
Indeed... I used to listen Russian, British and US VLF transmitters for their submarine fleets on my old PC with a Soundblaster and a big coil antenna.
@Wwhat
MANY 'inventions' are nothing more than retooled/retasked platforms. The fact that the Navy has been using VLF for comm (and fxcking up whales and dolphins for years doesn't diminish young Alexander's concept/new application.
Where it 'goes' next is mine safety & rescue. See anyone else come up with the concept when all those miners were lost a couple of years back when no one could pinpoint their location because of poor/no comm gear?
Alexander just opened the door to people surviving mine disasters.
what have you done for humanity lately, asswipe?
Obviously he invented something. Look at where he lives! In the middle of frickin' NOWHERE! poor kid....
Excellent!
It's innovative people, and innovative ideas like this, that will revive the economy. No amount of stimulus and quantitative easing will solve our problems.
someone please throw him a scholarship for an education of excellence, he might do something with it.
Hope you taking notes AT&T
He invented the Bucky Ball Radio Antenna, nice
Coal Miners rejoice everywhere
@timmy2000
TIMMY... (not at all like the 'TIMMY' of Soouth Park, are we?
Nice to see someone else 'get it'. The kid just opened the door to a new era in mine safety & rescue. The reason most miners die is they can't be located/have air shafts drilled (2y ago remember?)
This kid just saved lives. I did NOT expect to see the snark/sarcasm, and outright IDIOTs that have turned up to flame Alexander. Not on a geek site, anyway. Disappointed I am.
Thanks for 'getting it', Timmy.
alright, but how's this gonna get him chicks
@AstroSeven
well 'astro', he'll be racking in the jack from the patent(s), enjoying a 'free ride' scholarship somewhere, and hooking up with the first bright (good)girl(gonebad)-next-door that takes a moment to get to know him and finds out that smarts and imagination go a LONG way in the sack.
something, you, astro... don't 'get'.
The youth are always the future...
Who cares about caves? Will this tech allow me to make cell phone calls from my apartment? Then i'm interested! I'm on AT&T
Low frequency radio is nothing new. Using it for cave communications is nothing new either. Google it. The young gentleman seems to have made a mashup of SMS and low frequency radio.
Awesome!
It's all the power of channelling male teenage sexual energy. His dad said that geeky inventors get all the girls. Hey presto! A LF radio thingy is born!!!!
Tommyknockers, people.
I've seen them use walkie talkies in commercial mines and underwater.
If this has just been invented, how do they work?
@Mike V I've been in a mine before and you can get cell access in there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaky_feeder
Yeah, let's go deep underground and get busy cave texting!
@Eternal Density
you OBVIOUSLY aren't 'cut from the same cloth' as young Alexander. I would have thought that the application(s) for Mine Safety & rescue would have been OBVIOUS to even the most 'slowest' of Engadget subscribers... well, even I'm wrong once in a while.
@kennethetucker
I'm sorry, did I kick your puppy? Seriously, how did you reach any conclusion as to whether I do or don't understand the useful applications of this device? I thought that an Engadget reader slow enough to repeatedly emphasize words with caps would realise that my post was obviously a lame innuendo in which 'cave texting' is used as a euphemism contrary to the statement made in the article. I said nothing about whether or not the device has useful applications.
It's not gonna be long before the US military exploits this technology to their advantage...
@shy
who knows? concept could have applications and CIA/USAF could be 'wiring' HELLFIRE missiles into bad guys caves by 2011, thanks to Alexander.
Miners WILL be rescued in the near future using this application, i'm SURE of that.
Wow this kid does not deserve ANY credit. First off, low frequency transmission has been around for YEARS. We have used it in submarines to trasmit radio signals deep under water. So all he did was build an obtrusely large radio that has been done a million times. A typical science project. And he probably had help of dozens of adult engineers.
@ajizle123
your tone says it all
frustrated, mean-spirited, jealousy are all blocks to the creative process. you might want to rechannel that disappointment and hostility into some gardening you might have an epiphany, or not.. but at least you'll have veggies.
seriously dude, the kid probably just opened the door to saving LOTS of miners and/or offered military retasking to cave/tunnel detection in Af/Pak. So, take a deep breath, or two, and chill the fxck out.
Big deal. I was the one that came up with 2 minute abs.
Wicked smart!
Prediction:
There WILL BE miners who come out of mine disasters because of this 'kid's' invention, IF... a democratic OSHA director has anything to say about Mine Safety (unlike the industry insider that BushCo inserted to 'gut' regs & unions).
While most kids are texting v paying attention while driving, Alexander made history. Cool.
@theshadow27 What you're saying is mostly correct - China is the one that's stealing technology all the time thus saving the research and development costs, thus being able to sell for a fraction of the price. You will find, however, that most of the technology Japan produces was not invented by Japan. Most of the time the other countries invent the technologies and Japan simply takes it and improves it. They don't tend to straight out steal things as much as China do, they tend to be more honest (i.e. buying out companies, buying copyrights, researching similar versions of it, etc. as opposed to hacking computers).
Great work Alexander!
Congratulations!
impressive - however this was already invented and commercialized over 20 years ago...
http://www.minesite.com.au/coal_mines_ped_systemc
oh so its essentially an HF RTTY setup with a portable antenna? I'm not impressed. Props to him for winning a contest with 50 year old technology though.